If you're one of my regular readers let me say right off the bat, this is not an Angela/Eric story. ...Hello? Are you recovered from the shock yet? Do I need to call one of those "I've fallen and I can't get up!" hotlines?" I know! It threw me for a loop, too. This one is Cory/Topanga, although the non-perfect Cory/Topanga, something else I enjoy exploring.

If you're one of my regular readers you're also probably asking yourself why on earth I'm adding yet another story to my plate. The only answer I have is that it would not leave my brain until it was written and was getting in the way of my other stories.

Now, onto this. This story idea came to me when I was riding the L (Chicago train) home from work and found myself sitting with a mother and her 2 daughters and the girls were battling over an iPad. One wanted to watch Mickey Mouse and the other wanted to finish her episode of Girl Meets World. During the struggle the headphones came out and I heard a few lines of Cory's about the students finding their family histories. (Yes, I'm that easily inspired apparently.) After the girls were settled mom and I talked all things BMW for the rest of the ride.

This is another one of those stories where I really don't know if it belongs in the Boy Meets World section or on the Girl Meets World side. As I said in the summary, while it happens during the GMW timeline, the crux of the story covers the gray area between the two shows. I also feel really weird posting anything on the GMW side considering my dislike for the show is no secret, lol. But if I have to move it, let me know. The first half of this chapter is mostly Riley and Maya, but the rest is very Cory/Topanga heavy. The premise might seem a little challenging at first, but I hope you'll trust me with it and at least wait to see where it leads. As anyone who has read my stuff knows, I try to be real with everything I write.

There will be one more part to this. (My readers are also probably shaking there heads and saying, "yeah, right, more like 3 or 4." But nope, just one. It's written, just undergoing final editing.)

I hope you enjoy. It's been so long since I've written anything not focused on Angela and/or Eric and I feel more than a little rusty. :-)

"It's so stupid. Who gives an assignment to learn about your family history, then when you ask about the past, you're told to figure it out for yourself?"

Riley Matthews shook her head and moved a bag of summer clothes out of the way, trying to get to the box in the back of her parents' closet where she knew her mother kept old family photos. Maybe she'd find a clue in there, something to help her assignment besides, 'we're from Philadelphia and are Americans.' There had to be more to her family than that. She couldn't walk into class with a cheesesteak and cream cheese. "Who knows what my dad's logic is sometimes? Maybe it's a test and I'm supposed to figure out the answers for myself."

"While the rest of the class is allowed to ask our families for help, you know, assuming families are around to help, you're not supposed to?"

"It's my dad. What do you want? And I thought your grandma told you a lot about your family."

She shrugged. "Some, but her mind is not all there anymore. I don't know what's true and what's her crazy ramblings." Maya didn't want to think about her great-grandmother's declining health- she was the most consistent adult figure she had aside from Riley's parents- but it was getting harder to ignore.

"What about your mom?" A snort was her response. "Sorry. Stupid question." She finally hit the back of the closet. "Ah-ha! Here it is. If any interesting Matthews and Lawrence family history exists, it will be in this box." Riley tried to drag it closer. "This is heavy. Help me, Maya."

A little while later the girls were elbow deep in pictures. "There are a lot of you and your dad when you were really little. Where were you guys?"

She leaned over and looked at the photograph. "In this one we're at grandma and grandpa's house in Philly. See the mantle in the background? I'm not sure about that second one. That room isn't familiar."

"There are almost none of you and your mom when you're this age. I mean, there's the happy family shots right after you're born and still a teeny, tiny baby, but not when you're a little older. Then it's just you and your dad. She's not completely vanished, but still." Maya picked up another stack. "Huh. Your mom shows up in a lot more pictures again when you're around…three? Four? I think."

"She was probably behind the camera."

"Yeah, that makes sense." She made her way through another stack. "Geez, are there any images of you Matthews' that don't look like they should be slapped onto a Hallmark card? It's sickening!"

Riley scrunched up her face. "Well, I don't think Hallmark will want this one of Uncle Eric mooning Mount Rushmore." She flipped the picture over and recognized her dad's handwriting. Summer Road Trip '96: My brother is an idiot and thought the presidents should know.

"Ew. Now, if it was Josh-"

"That's my uncle, too, so it's still an ew. Maya, give it up. It is never gonna happen. He's in college and you're not even in high school yet."

"Way to be a Debbie Downer!" She continued to dig through the box. "I don't have much in my life. Let me have a little something to cling to."

"Can't it be something more realistic and not on my family tree?"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh," Maya, interrupted. "Look what I found."

"What?"

She held up a blank manila envelope that was so stuffed it didn't look like it could handle even one sheet of tissue paper being added to it without bursting. "Everything else in the box is loose. What could be so important that they'd stick it in an envelope?"

"Insurance papers, birth certificates," Riley suggested. "Tax forms?"

"You're probably right. I love your parents, but they are the most boring people on the face of the earth." She undid the metal clasp and opened it. "But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to double check, right?"

"I don't know."

"Please. If they really didn't want anyone seeing this they would've sealed it, not just bent down those lame metal pieces."

"Yeah, but it was at the bottom of a box in the back of their closet."

"You had no problems going through that box a few minutes ago." She took out a few papers and began to flip through. "Besides, what are the odds we're going to stumble upon some deep, dark family secr…" Maya shoved the papers back into the envelope and tried to put it back in to the box. "Call your grandparents. I'm sure they have stories to tell."

"What? What is it?"

"Riley, trust me. You don't want to know. And obviously things worked out in the end, right?"

"You're scaring me."

"No, I'm trying to protect you."

"I'm sick of people trying to protect me." She wrenched the envelope from her best friend's grasp and removed the papers on top. She read the words in bolded font across the top of the page. Then she read them again. And again because it seemed her reading comprehension skills had gone out the window. "This is a separation agreement."

"I noticed."

"But that doesn't make sense. When did this happen? My parents are the happiest people I've ever seen! You said it yourself: it's sickening. They're like Disneyworld hopped up on steroids."

"Apparently they have a haunted house and hall of mirrors you never knew about." She took the papers back. "Whoa your dad filed? No offense, but I would've put money on your mom being the one."

"What?! Where does it say that?"

"It says right here the plaintiff is Cory A. Matthews. I've seen enough episodes of Judge Judy and Law & Order to know what that means. Oh, wow, check out the date: Friday, October 11th, 2002."

"I was just a baby," she whispered, "not even one."

"That explains why you don't remember this."

"What else is in there?"

Maya dug through and tried to make sense of all the documents. "I'm no legal wizard, but it looks like more papers about separation and divorce and a bunch of custody papers."

"Custody? For me?"

"No, for the couch and blender," the blonde deadpanned. "I'm sure they would've hated to separate them."

"Maya!"

"Sorry, trying to bring a little humor."

"Not the time." She took a deep breath. "So?"

She scanned the document, trying her best to understand the words on the page. "If I'm reading this right, and that's a big if, it says they shared joint legal custody but your dad was given physical custody."

Maybe that was why there weren't many pictures of her with her mother in her early years. "What about mom?"

"It just says open-ended visitation, with a note from the judge that suggests a flexible visitation schedule be arranged once you and your dad were moved back and settled in Philadelphia."

"Philadelphia? We weren't even going to be in New York anymore?"

"Not according to this." Maya felt like she was going to be sick. Riley in Philadelphia? They never would've met. Never would've become best friends, never…nothing. Her life would be completely different.

Riley stared at her best friend, the image of her blurry through tears. "My parents got divorced? B-but they're my parents. They have the perfect love story. They have the perfect everything. They are perfect."

"They obviously didn't split up, right? I mean, they're still together." This had rattled her, too. She couldn't imagine Mr. and Mrs. Matthews not together. Their home was her safe haven. However Riley was already too far gone for her to lose it, too. "Or back together. They worked something out."

"Girls, we're home! And we brought dinner!"

"Be right there," Maya shouted in return. "Come on, we have to put this stuff away."

"But-"

"Do you want them to know we saw this?"

That seemed to snap Riley out of her trance and she began stuffing pictures back into the box while Maya took care of the contents of the envelope. She thought they were in the clear until she heard her mother's voice from down the hall.

"Riley, Maya, let's go. It's dinnertime. Wash your hands and you can listen to Auggie tell you all about his soccer-" Topanga stopped cold when she saw the girls sitting on the floor in hers' and Cory's room. She had been on her way to Riley's room where she assumed the girls were. The closet door was opened and its contents were spread about. "What are you doing in here? You know better than to go through our things."

"I was just looking for pictures for my family history project."

"Then you ask me and I will get them for you." She spied the box that sat open between the girls and immediately noticed the large manila envelope resting atop the photographs. That wasn't where it belonged. She kept that at the bottom. "Did you look in that envelope?"

"What envelope?"

"That one right there."

"Oh, this envelope? You didn't say this one. You should've been more specific."

"Stop it with that teen double talk and answer the question. Did you look inside?" She crossed her arms and stared at the girls, but found they could no longer meet her eyes. Riley looked about ready to cry. Granted, she suddenly felt that way herself. "Cory!"

Moments later he appeared in the door. "Yes, darling? And don't worry. I already sent Auggie to change his clothes and wash up." He may not be the smartest guy in the world, but between his wife's rigid body language and the looks on Riley's and Maya's faces even college Eric would've been able to figure out that something was up. "What did you girls break?"

"The envelope, Cory."

"How the heck to you break an envelope?"

Topanga let out an exasperated sigh and gestured towards the box. "Cory!"

He followed where she was pointing and suddenly understood what she was talking about. Without saying a word he walked over and retrieved the manila envelope and went back into the hall, pulling Topanga along with him. "What do we do now," he whispered.

"I don't know." She pushed him into their daughter's room since she knew that was empty and out of the girls' earshot.

He closed the door. "Do you think Riley saw what was inside?"

"Didn't you see the look on her face? Of course she did." Topanga covered her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

Cory wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "We will just sit her down and-and…and we'll explain that it's a grown up thing she's too young to know about. But we'll tell her later, maybe when she's eighteen."

"Be realistic. We can't just shove this back into the closet for another five years!"

"But she's not ready to know about this." He walked away from Topanga and picked up a teddy bear from the bed. "She's just a little girl."

"No, she's not, Cory."

"This is too big for her. She won't understand."

"We have to give her a chance!" If there was one thing that bothered her about her husband, it was his insistence at treating Riley like a five year old. Though how mad could Topanga get when she often fell into this trap as well? "She's becoming a young woman and the more we deny that the worse off Riley will be. Treating her like a child is not doing her any favors. It's only going to make life more difficult for her in the long run."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, never mind."

"I can't believe you want to tell her." Cory had hoped to be long dead and buried before this ever saw the light of day. It was a dark time in their lives and though he learned a great deal from it, he hated to revisit it. It was the kind of thing that happened to other people, not him and Topanga.

"It's not that I want to, but I think it's the only responsible thing to do now that it's out there. It's better than leaving her with a million and one questions and telling her that we'll get back to her in five years." She took a seat at the edge of the bed. "I only hope she doesn't hate me."

"No, she won't. I won't let her."

/

A while later, after dinner was eaten, Auggie sent to bed, and Maya made to go home after much protest, Riley was in the living room with her parents. She chose to sit in a chair while they were on the couch. The manila envelope lay unopened on the coffee table. The silence was heavy and seemed to stretch on forever. Finally, however, Topanga worked up the nerve to speak. "You must have so many questions."

Riley kept her head down, choosing to stare at her hands, which rested in her lap.

She took a deep breath and kept speaking when it became clear her daughter wasn't up to talking just yet. A rarity if there ever was one. "First, I want to make clear that dad and I love you very much and anything that happened during this point in our lives was us trying to figure out what was best for you. You were always our first priority." Topanga looked to her husband to chime in. She knew he didn't want to be having this discussion, but since it was happening, they both needed to be having it with Riley. She elbowed him in the ribs. "Right, Cory?"

"Ow! Not so hard." He rubbed his side. "Mom's right, Riley. Everything that went on back then, everything that goes on now, we do in the best interest of you and your brother."

"Having a baby," Topanga continued, "it's stressful under the very best of circumstances. I found out I was pregnant with you near the end of our junior year in college. Dad and I were working fulltime jobs to make ends meet. That's not so unusual, but we were also both in school fulltime as well. Even when it was just the two of us it was rough."

"I know." Riley hesitated before asking her question. "Were you happy when you found out?"

"Yes, we were," she answered honestly. "It was quite a bit sooner than we planned on having kids, but yes, we were thrilled."

"I had to breathe into a paper bag for a few minutes," Cory admitted, "but once the lightheadedness passed I was excited."

"I started making plans right away. We couldn't afford to move before you were born, so I had to figure out how to be practical yet get everything we would need for you to fit into the tiny studio apartment we had at the time."

"It looked like a rat maze with all the baby stuff added," he interjected. "I thought my shins were going to be permanently bruised from banging into everything."

"You weren't due until December twenty-ninth and I took classes in the summer and worked my butt off in the fall semester so I could graduate early and have some time to relax before you were born. Then the plan was to be home with you until I started law school. Of course you decided to show up three weeks early and put a kink into the first part of my perfect little plan," she noted with a smile. She had been a wreck when she had to leave her three day old baby to take her remaining finals. But if she didn't take them she wouldn't graduate early and that wasn't going to happen. She'd worked too hard. A few days later Topanga walked across the stage in cap and gown with her eight day old daughter in attendance.

"I've heard all this a million times already," the teen interrupted. "It doesn't explain how you ended up with divorce and custody papers."

"Maybe not, but it's the start of a very complicated journey. The first couple of years after you were born were extremely trying on our marriage and family."

"The good news is, even though it was painful at the time, it has a happy ending."

Riley leaned forward and took the envelope from the table and removed all of the papers. She flipped through until she found the ones she was looking for. "What happened October 11th, 2002, dad? What made you file for separation?"

Cory sighed and ran his hands over his face. "There were a lot of things that led up to that. Our problems started showing themselves about months earlier."

"What kind of problems?"

"Mom was home with you, but I was still working full time and finishing up my last semester of college. It didn't leave a lot of room for happy family bonding moments."

"I loved you and I treasured all the moments we had together, but I started to resent your dad and the fact that he got to leave the apartment and socialize with people who could talk back and carry a conversation. I was someone who was used to having something to do, someplace to go…just something. Staying home all day and taking care of a baby was so out of my element.

"I had grown to thrive on schedules and routines and you didn't come preprogrammed to understand that." She tried to go back to the laid back "hippie-like" qualities that made up her childhood, but she'd stopped that way of thinking long before the baby came along. "It also didn't help that the household chores seemed to fall to me as well."

Cory jumped in to defend himself. "You were home and I was at work and school and I tried, but-"

She held up her hand to halt her husband before turning to smile at their daughter. "As you can see, some debate remains."

/

"Come on, Topanga! You said yesterday you'd take care of the laundry. I have to meet with the financial aid counselor today about when to start paying back the loans. I really don't want to do it with baby spit-up down my shoulder."

"You know the way to the laundromat," she quipped, fastening the tape on Riley's diaper.

"Right, because I had a ton of time to do laundry."

Topanga smiled and stuck her tongue out at the baby before putting her on a play mat with a few toys. Little Riley could roll from her stomach to her back, but that was all so far, something her mother was grateful for. That meant she couldn't get far. Topanga's expression changed the moment she faced her husband. "It's open twenty-four hours a day."

"I left before seven and didn't get home until after eleven last night."

"So because you're at work and at school that eliminates you from household responsibilities? You think because I'm home with Riley that it all falls on me? That's so sexist!"

"That's not what I'm saying and you know it. But you're the one with more time to-"

"Time? Time for what? Tell me, Cory, where is all this magical time you think I have? Because by the time I gather the laundry, get Riley fed and dressed, get myself fed and dressed, and ready to walk out the door suddenly Riley needs to be changed or is hungry again or starts crying for no reason discernable to me! That is why the laundry hasn't gotten done or the dishes washed and also why I asked you to take out the garbage when you left yesterday so I didn't have to go down to the basement."

He spied the full bag of trash sitting next to the can. "I'm sorry. I'll take it down today. But what do I do about a shirt right now?"

She growled at him and wrenched the blue polo from his hands before stalking over to the sink. She shoved the dishes aside and doused the garment in their orange scented dish soap before sticking it under the faucet, completely soaking it. A minute or two later Topanga handed it back to him, still dripping wet. "There…it's clean. Hopefully it meets your standards, your highness."

Cory didn't know what to say. Even if he wanted to say something…the words simply weren't there. He watched wordlessly as Topanga scooped Riley up from the floor and went over to their bed, being sure to arrange the screens that separated the area from the rest of their studio so she couldn't see him.

/

"Basically, we were overworked, overtired, and had no one to take it out on but each other. At least that's how it started." There were also the added pressures of being away from family and friends. They came to visit and help when they could, but their lives couldn't stop just because Cory and Topanga had a baby.

"Isn't that normal? I don't know anything about babies, but that's how it seems. A baby makes parents tired."

"Yes, and that was part of the problem. It was naïve, but we had always believed ourselves to be superior to other couples."

"We are," Cory stated with confidence.

"But that doesn't exempt us from the normal struggles that every other couple goes through." Topanga tried to figure out the best way to phrase her next thoughts. "We were young and stupid and thought it did."

"We were never stupid!"

"Yes, we were, Cory. We were just as stupid as every other couple starting out with an idealized view of themselves and the world. We hadn't lived yet no matter much we thought we had. We knew nothing. So when the real, yet normal stuff came at us we were caught off guard and didn't know how to handle it."

"Fine, but you can't call everything that happened normal, Topanga."

Riley wrinkled her brow. "What does that mean?"

"Well…not many people enroll in law school a full semester before it was planned on and failed to tell their spouses until a week before they were going to start classes."

"Mom?"

Her eyes wandered to a photo of her, Cory, and Riley taken after her graduation from law school. She graduated with honors…naturally. They had been on friendly terms, though not romantically reunited. They had been very much in the wait and see stage at that point. She was proud of how far they had come since then but she was still painfully aware how close they came to losing everything.